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MT 19 November 2017

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maltatoday SUNDAY 19 NOVEMBER 2017 44 This Week FOLLOWING a run on the main- stream cinema circuit, Darren Aronofsky's cinematic malestrom, Mother! is currently haunting the cinema at Spazju Kreattiv at St James Cavalier, Valletta. Arguably one of the most contentious films to be screened around the main- stream cinema cycle this year, it tells the outwardly simple story of a poet (Javier Bardem) who lives in an isolated countryside cottage with his wife (Jennifer Lawrence). The poet (no proper names are given, a hint to Aronofsky's desire to keep things as archetypal as pos- sible) is struggling with writer's block, and his wife is determined to turn their dilapidated home into a "paradise". But when an aging and sickly doctor (Ed Harris) comes knocking, the woman's best laid plans start to unravel at an alarm- ing rate, and to an extent that chal- lenges the very integrity of reality itself. This is a film best experienced as a dark fairy tale, with characters who are clearly just 'types' and with unexplained supernatural happen- ings cropping up just because the story demands them to. Which puts a lot of the onus on its players to deliver the best they can – with Lawrence being chief among them. It would be silly to only now point to Lawrence's acting chops – that much was evident even before the Hunger Games saga plunged her into the global spotlight, thanks to her turn in Winter's Bone (2010) – but the camera quite literally does not give her a break this time around... much like the imposing guests who insist on making her life a literal hell (there's yet another point in Aronofsky's favour: the way in which, for all of its spiralling, freewheeling craziness, the film is a perfect blend of form and content through and through). Managing to pull off virginial purity, maternal assertiveness and – latterly – sub- lime, cosmic rage, Lawrence more than pulls her weight in a film that requires her to do plenty of heavy- lifting. Of course, at some point you'll find yourself wondering what it all means. And here's the thing. Aro- nofsky, not being the most subtle of filmmakers out there – his track record includes Pi (1998), Req- uiem for a Dream (2000), Black Swan (2010) and Noah (2014) – actually lays on the symbolism pretty thick. In a lot of ways, this is a bog-standard Biblical allegory. There are some details that re- main fully open to interpretation, and it's to Aronofsky's credit that they're there. But this isn't the kind of maddening mystery-world of a David Lynch, say. As with his pre- vious films, Aronofsky remains a purveyor of a kind of 'Hollywood- friendly' arthouse experience: he is bold and risque in some ways, but hardly all that challenging once you scratch the surface. Whichever perch of the critical scale you end up standing on when it comes to this fever dream of a movie, it would be tough to im- agine how a filmmaker with a less technical chops than Aronofsky would have handled such a chal- lenging aesthetic experience. Be- cause, for all of its perfunctory dia- logue and unapologetic approach to the rules of its world, the way it all proceeds requires an incredibly tight control over the proceedings. From the tightly-focused, roving close-ups – the majority of which follow Lawrence's beleaguered protagonist – to the impeccable sound design that truly brings to life the "living house" trope that the film also borrows from, this is an immersive experience through and through, even taken indepen- dently from the screenplay (such as it is, and written as it was in a five-day burst of frenzied inspira- tion). Equal parts technically flawless, genre mash-up and indulgent sym- phony of insanity, Darren Aronof- sky's brazen assault on the senses will certainly leave an impression by virtue of its mix of calculated dread and all-out, explosive chaos. Whether or not all of this amounts to much in the end is debatable – even if the writer-director con- structs a world that's stuffed to the brim with allegorical promise – but what isn't up for debate is the pungent punch with which this wacky film lands. A final screening of Mother! Will take place at Spazju Kreattiv at St James Cavalier, Valletta on No- vember 24 at 20:30 IN CINEMAS TODAY Embassy Cinemas Valletta Tel. 21 227436, 21 245818 Justice League (3D) (12A) 10:15, 13:30, 16:05, 18:40, 21:15 Paddington 2 (U) 10:00, 12:15, 14:30, 16:45, 19:00, 21:15 Jigsaw (18) 16:25, 18:35, 20:45 Murder on the Orient Express (12A) 10:30, 13:30, 16:00, 18:30, 21:00 Breathe (12A) 10:20, 13:30, 16:00, 18:30, 21:00 Thor: Ragnarok (12A) 10:35, 14:30, 18:00, 20:50 Valletta Living History (U) 10:00, 10:45, 11:30, 12:15, 13:00, 13:45, 14:30, 15:15 Eden Cinemas St Julian's Tel. 23 710400 A Bad Moms Christmas (15) 14:05, 16:25, 18:45, 21:05 Breathe (15) 14:00, 16:20, 18:40, 21:00 Geostorm (12A) 14:10, 16:25, 18:45, 21:05 Jigsaw (18) 14:20, 16:25, 18:35, 20:50, 23:05 Justice League (3D) (12A) 11:10, 14:00, 15:00, 16:35, 18:00, 20:00, 21:00, 23:00 Kingsman: The Golden Circle (15) 14:00, 17:45, 20:45 Murder On The Orient Express (12A) 11:20, 14:30, 18:10, 20:45, 23:20 Only The Brave (12A) 11:15, 14:10, 18:00, 20:55, 23:15 Paddington 2 (PG) 11:20, 14:00, 16:15, 18:30, 20:55 The Confession (12A) 14:05, 18:20 The Mountain Between Us (12A) 11:20, 14:00, 16:15, 18:30, 20:50, 23:10 Thor: Ragnarok (12A) 11:25, 14:30, 18:00, 20:40, 23:20 Winter Brothers (18) 16:15, 20:35 Empire Cinemas Bugibba Tel. 21 581787, 21 581909 Thor: Ragnarok (12A) 10:30, 13:15, 15:55, 18:35, 21:15 Murder on the Orient Express (12A) 11:00, 13:30, 16:00, 18:30, 20:55 Justice League (12A) 10:40, 13:25, 16:05, 18:40, 21:15 Paddington 2 (12A) 10:45, 13:35, 16:00, 18:25, 20:50 Breathe (12A) 11:00, 13:30, 16:00, 18:30, 21:00 A Bad Moms Christmas (15) 10:55, 13:50, 16:15, 18:40, 21:05 Geostorm (12A) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ MOTHER'S MILK ★ ★ ★ ★ MOMMY DEAREST ★ ★ ★ LOVE YOU, MUM ★ ★ MUMMY'S BOY ★ YOU'RE NOT MY REAL MUM! FILM By Teodor Reljic A brash assault on the senses FILM: MOTHER! (15) ★ ★ ★ Hell at home: Javier Bardem and Jennifer Lawrence lead the way in this cinematic maelstrom orchestrated by Darren Aronofsky

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